Nintendo defends Wii U pricing

Nintendo have defended the Wii U’s pricing ahead of launch, explaining that consumer response indicates that it’s “in a good spot.”

“All I can say is that the response has been phenomenal and we’re getting, especially in the higher priced deluxe set, that one’s selling out incredibly quickly,” Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of sales and marketing, remarked to GamesIndustry International. “That seems to indicate that the pricing’s in a good spot and the proof is in the consumer response.”

Whilst Nintendo have acknowledged that shortages may be an issue following launch, they’re confident that they are in a better position to deal with them than with the Wii.

Moffitt continues, “Certainly we’ve seen brisk pre-sales and that the phone calls have been coming into our headquarters for quite a while now asking for more and so we do expect high demand.

“But I can tell you this – on opening week we will have more systems on hand for the Wii U than we did for the launch of Wii. And, second, our replenishments will be more frequent this holiday time than during the Wii launch,” Moffitt noted.”

“But, having said all that, it’s impossible to exactly predict demand, and so I can’t say that we won’t have some shortages out there and that people won’t have to be a little patient with the replenishment truckload and shipments and boatloads to arrive.”